The
Department of State Services has elected to withdraw the case at the
lower court for a higher court, which has jurisdiction to entertain
charges bordering on terrorism, to take over.
Shuaibu Usman, magistrate of the chief magistrate court, Wuse zone
2, Abuja, on Wednesday discharged Nnamdi Kanu, director of Radio Biafra
and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on all counts of
criminal conspiracy and ownership of an unlawful society brought against
him by the federal government.
After holding that the government had dropped the charges against Kanu, the judge ruled: “The accused person is hereby discharged and the case struck out.”
The government through its agent, the Department of State Services
(DSS), had elected to withdraw the case at the lower court for a higher
court, which has jurisdiction to entertain charges bordering on
terrorism, to take over. Usman was scheduled to deliver judgment on the
application of the DSS on December 1, but he put it off until December
16.
The DSS has held Kanu for at least 90 days despite an order of the magistrate court granting him bail in October.
After the lower court granted him bail, the secret police got an
order of the federal high court, Abuja, to keep the leader of IPOB in
detention.
But his lawyer, Vincent Obetta, filed a counter application,
seeking bail for the accused person. Adeniyi Ademola, justice of the
federal high court, Abuja, is expected to rule on the bail application
on Thursday.
A wave of protests, engineered by IPOB, had swept through the southeast a few days ago owing to the continued detention of Kanu.
IPOB is demanding an immediate and unconditional release of its leader.
Source: TheCable
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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